“As part of a worldwide portfolio assessment, we have made the commercial decision to transition to an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio,” it said, adding that cornstarch-based baby powder is already sold in countries around the world.
In 2020, J&J announced that it would stop selling its talcum baby powder in the US and Canada because demand had fallen in the wake of what it called “misinformation” about the product’s safety amid a barrage of legal challenges.
The company faces about 38,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors claiming its talcum products caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen.
J&J denies the allegations, saying decades of scientific testing and regulatory approvals have shown its talcum to be safe and asbestos-free. On Thursday, it reiterated the statement as it announced the discontinuation of the product.
J&J spun off subsidiary LTL Management in October, assigned its talcum claims to it and immediately placed it into bankruptcy, pausing the pending lawsuits.
Before the bankruptcy filing, the company faced costs from US$3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including one in which 22 women were awarded a judgment of more than US$2 billion, according to bankruptcy court records.
A shareholder proposal calling for an end to global sales of the talcum baby powder failed in April.
A 2018 Reuters investigation found that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a carcinogen, was present in its talcum products. Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J’s raw talcum and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.
In response to evidence of asbestos contamination presented in media reports, in the court room and on Capitol Hill, J&J has repeatedly said its talcum products are safe, and do not cause cancer.
Sold since 1894, Johnson’s Baby Powder became a symbol of the company’s family-friendly image.
An internal J&J marketing presentation from 1999 refers to the baby products division, with Baby Powder at the core, as J&J’s “#1 Asset”, Reuters reported, although the baby powder accounted for only about 0.5% of its US consumer health business when the company pulled it off the shelves.